John Cryan has told Deutsche Bank employees that they need to think like a tech firm if they want to keep their jobs, but when it comes to new hires at the bank, technology is one division that continues to defy the hiring freeze.

Deutsche Bank has hired yet another senior technologist, as it continues to utilise technology for both cost-cutting and competitive advantage. It’s just brought in Chris Barker as chief information officer for group information and records management.

He was previously a managing director and global head of digital and engineering services at Royal Bank of Scotland. Barker will be in charge of big data, eDiscovery, archiving and records management at Deutsche Bank.

It also brought in Nick Riordan from Bank of America Merrill Lynch a managing director and CTO for the global transaction bank. Tom Waite, also joined from BAML as a managing director in its electronic trading team.

Deutsche Bank is moving across to fully embracing digital technology and is unravelling its complex technology infrastructure. This means both an investment in technological innovation in the front office, but also using tech to cut costs in everything from compliance to audit. Elsewhere, Deutsche Bank has said that it will continue to cut jobs across its investment bank.

Barker joined RBS in 2013 as managing director and head of customer and channels technology, but moved into his most recent role in April 2015. Before this, he was head of wholesale technology, global derivatives and strategic risk at CIBC Capital Markets.

Comments (1)

DB continues to reward and promote people who see innovation as embarrassing, who regard streamlining informational flows as quirky and idea ergonomics as a bit too “avant garde”. Changing the culture of middle management is virtually impossible and these ideas from the top are pointless while it is not willing to indulge in copious radical bloodletting in the middle.